Rosebank residents George and Anna Kountis, who have been married for 32 years, are the owners of the coffee shop. The couple are both from Chania on Crete, Greeceâs largest island. They met through family, and married when she was 18 and he was 21.Staten Island Advance/Virginia Sherry

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Married for 32 years, Rosebank residents Anna and George Kountis recently joined the East Shore’s mom-and-pop business scene, serving breakfast and lunch at George’s Coffee Shop on Richmond Road.

The friendly, hard-working couple opened the coffee shop two months ago, and renovated the interior to provide additional seating and a more spacious feel.

“This is a family business, and I’m excited because I want to make a nice place for the neighborhood,” Kountis said on Feb. 19 as he prepared take-out lunch orders on the grill.

When a reporter remarked about the large amount of crumbled imported Greek feta cheese he was sprinkling over the salad for a gyro platter, he replied: “I give a lot of food. I’m not cheap with the food.”

He’s not cheap, either, with the beef for the tasty, eight-ounce hamburgers that customers are raving about.

“The meat is fresh, not frozen,” Kountis commented with pride. Choices include a basic burger with lettuce, tomato, coleslaw and pickle ($5.50), American cheeseburger or Mexican burger with cheddar and jalapeno ($6.50), and bacon cheeseburger ($7.75).

Other lunch fare includes a variety of specialty sandwiches, a dozen gourmet salads, triple-decker sandwiches, and Italian entrees such as baked ziti, spaghetti with meat sauce or meatballs, chicken Parmigiana, and chicken francese.

The extensive breakfast menu offers omelette sandwiches ($3.95 for spinach to $4.50 for mushroom and cheese); pancakes and French toast or challah, and breakfast platters with three eggs, toast, and a choice of home fries or French fries, with prices starting at $4.50. 

ROOTS IN GREECE

Mrs. Kountis — who was born in Chania on Crete, Greece’s largest island — immigrated to the U.S. with her parents and brother in 1974, settling in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Her husband-to-be, also from Chania, arrived in the neighborhood three years later. They met through family, and married when she was 18 and he was 21.

Greek specialties at the coffee shop include chicken or beef gyro sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce on pita ($5.25); chicken or gyro platter with Greek salad, French fries or rice, and pita ($8.25); Greek salad with grilled chicken ($8.95); and moussaka or pastitsio (served with house salad, $12.95).

“These little places have the best food,” David Cubria of Pleasant Plains said. “The food’s very good here. I come every day for breakfast or lunch.”